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This twentieth trading week of 2013 comes to a close with stocks once again touching new highs, following another strong batch of corporate earnings.

The S&P 500, the Nasdaq and the Dow Jones Industrial Average were all higher for the week. Crude oil futures are higher this week, trading around $96.00 per barrel on Friday afternoon. Gold futures are lower this week, trading at $1,365 an ounce in afternoon trading.

In notable economic news this week, the Labor Department reported the number of Americans filing for initial jobless claims rose by 32,000 last week to a seasonably adjusted rate of 360,000 applications. This latest report comes after the jobless rate touched a new five year low last week.

In corporate news, Wal-Mart (WMT) reported first quarter earnings of $3.78 billion, or $1.14 per share, missing Wall Street estimates by a penny. The company said it expects sale-store-sales to see growth in the range of flat to 2% in the second quarter and earnings in the range of $1.22 to $1.27 per share.

Deere (DE) reported first quarter sales increased 9% to $10.91 billion, easily topping Wall Street estimates, but investors were more focused on the disappointing sales growth forecast issued by the company. The sales growth guidance was cut from 6% growth to 5% growth.

Macy's (M) reported first quarter earnings of $217 million, or 55 cents per share, as revenue climbed by 4% to $6.38 billion. While revenue fell short of Wall Street estimates, investors were willing to overlook the top line miss as the company announced a 20% increase to the dividend and an additional $1.5 billion added to the stock buyback program.